Joann,
OK...Let's go back a bit....NOT A PROBLEM.....
The hue clock is a tool that will tell you what color is under the selected point. The way you read one is really pretty simple. It can be confusing at times but let's start with RGB.
The RGB hue clock shows you a clock face with all of the major hues RGBCMY shown around a clock face and three numbers R, G, B. These represent the Red, Green, and Blue channels within the image and define all of the color available in the RGB space. The values of the numbers represent the brightness of the selected pixel from 0 to 256. Zero being black and 256 being white. In the case of CM we sample a pixel and those around it to get a average for the selected pixel. So if your CM sample size is 3 pixels, you actually sample 9 pixels and get an average. This is good because you rarely get an exact pixel selected..
http://www.curvemeister.com/support/curvemeister2/help/Manual/HueClock.htm There is a ton of info out there on hue clocks but start here as well.
The CM hue clocks give you an advantage by showing you the original values and the changed values so you might see an entry like this R 120 / 135 This shows that you brightened the selected Red channel pixel from 120 to 135.
Neutral on the hue clocks is when the numbers for a selected pixel are all equal. Any number value can be neutral so long as each channel is the same value. In RGB it can be written as RGB 100,100,100.
In LAB which is different it can be L=100, A= 0, B=0 written as L100,A0,B0 In LAB the only neutral is the center of the A and B curves at Zero. This makes it harder to understand at first but simple really since neutral is 0.
The color worm is another tool to help you understand the changes you are going to be making. The worm shows you the "area" of the effect. example: if the worm is showing you a range of values from (100 to 200) on the curve and if you move the mid point of that range you will effect all the pixels under the worm to some extent. The ends of the worm much less than the point you may have selected.
http://www.curvemeister.com/wiki/index.php?title=Color_Worms here is more information as well.
The effect GregM is describing is like tuning the color on your TV or PC monitor. If the R value goes up you have to compensate by adding Green and Blue or removing some of the red. Because on the color wheel Cyan is the color complement of Red you can add cyan to make the same Green and Blue change. Cyan is between Green and Blue on the Hue Clock.
We do this in CM by selecting a known neutral if we have one and then "tweaking" the color a bit to make it look natural and to improve the printed results.
The numbers can be misleading because the hue clock shows you the Pixel value in the image file. IF your monitor is not adjusted correctly you can have a pixel that the numbers say is neutral but your eyes tell you it is red. This is the color correction equivalent of being color blind. It is one of the reasons I asked about the hue clocks. They translate across the various computers. As long as your neutral numbers are correct I should see a neutral where you set it. If you adjust the neutral visually you can introduce a color cast to your image because the monitor might be poorly adjusted.
I'm looking for resources to help you check the calibration of your monitor any suggestions for an easy package from the VIP's would be good...I think there are some listed on the CM site...I'll look.
Hang in there...
Greg
Let's keep the dialog open on this and you keep asking questions...